


Aim for the Skies

by aphrosCartographer



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2020-04-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:28:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22024117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aphrosCartographer/pseuds/aphrosCartographer
Summary: I can't stop thinking about the lack of support between my favorite rarepair, so I wrote them their own support conversations since the game failed me in this way
Relationships: Ashe Duran | Ashe Ubert/Claude von Riegan
Comments: 3
Kudos: 53





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> thank you rp for enlightening me with the rarest of pairs. enjoy my contribution to this small corner of the fandom

## C Support: 

“-aude? Hey! Yoohoo~ Anyone home?” 

Claude blinked and stared blankly at Hilda, who was still dramatically waving her arm in front of his face. “Yes, Hilda? Is there something you need?” 

She huffed and gestured toward the papers lying on the desk in front of him, “I need your help with this assignment and you’ve just been staring at that Blue Lions kid while he shoots at targets...again...” 

Claude smiled, “Can you blame me? He’s got great form.” 

Hilda rolled her eyes, “Yeah great form. That’s exactly what you were watching.” 

“You know me, I’ve got an eye for that stuff.” 

“Sure you do,” she put her chin in her hands and leaned across the table, “but have you ever actually talked to him?” 

He grimaced, “I’ve tried to. Ashe...gets kind of weird about the whole noble thing. Wants to treat me like some sort of royalty.” 

“Boy, has he got you all wrong. Do they all actually refer to Dimitri as ‘His Highness’? Seems a little 'old-fashioned' don't you think?” she asked, obviously grateful to have something more interesting to talk about than their homework assignment. 

Claude shrugged, “I have no idea but maybe you all could learn something from them, huh? Maybe start with referring to me as ‘Your Excellence’ and work our way up from there?” 

“One,” she counted off on her fingers, “that is never going to happen and you know it. Two, this conversation is going the wrong direction because three, you need to keep trying to talk to him. It’s embarrassing watching you pine after him like this.” 

“I am not pining Hilda, I’m… oh shit I am pining, aren’t I?” 

Challenge issued, and her actual mission accomplished, Hilda gathered her papers and stood to leave. “I want you to name your first child after me, ok? Good luck!” 

Before Claude could say anything to retort, she whirled away off towards the dining hall. He shook his head and let his eyes wander back to where Ashe was currently retrieving his arrows. An impressive amount of them peppered the inner two rings of the target. He was a good shot and stronger than he looked, that much was clear. Claude took a deep breath, fighting down the butterflies that suddenly decided to make a fuss in his stomach and stood up. Bag slung over his shoulder, he made his way to where Ashe was now checking over his bow string. 

“Hey Ashe!” Claude called out as he neared. Ashe looked up from his bow and his eyes widened in recognition. “Where did you learn to shoot like that? You’re incredible!” 

Ashe stood up and gave Claude a slight bow, “Thank you, sir. It’s quite an honor to be praised by someone as skilled as you.” His face was bright red, but from embarrassment or exertion, Claude couldn’t be sure. 

“So formal… but you really are impressive with that thing. Who taught you to shoot?” Claude set his bag down next to the benches and picked up a spare bow. 

“Oh, um, my adoptive father taught me.” Claude was instinctively aware of Ashe watching him closely as he tested the bowstring and selected an arrow from the quiver Ashe was using. “Are you familiar with him, sir? Lonato?” 

“Really, Ashe, you don’t have to address me like you would Dimitri. In fact, I would much prefer you not to. I’m not even your house leader, let alone your king.” In one smooth motion, Claude pulled the bowstring to his cheek, took aim at the target, and released. Bulls-eye. “Right now,” he winked at Ashe as he twirled the bow in his hands, “I’m just a guy who’s about to kick your ass in a friendly little shooting competition.” 

Ashe shook his head, "I'm sure you have better things to do than waste time practicing with someone like me." He moved to put his bow down, "I'll get out of your way so you have more room." 

"Hey, wait don't leave yet," Claude reached out and gently caught him by the arm, the firmness of the muscle there surprising him, "Please? Just a couple rounds." 

Ashe smiled softly and shook his head again, pulling his arm out of Claude's grasp. "I have kitchen duty tonight. I was getting ready to leave before you came over. I'm very sorry about that, s-" he stopped himself, "I mean… Claude." 

Claude nodded, letting his arm fall to his side, "Ah, yeah I guess that's fair. But, you owe me a shooting match. I want to study the Faerghus style for myself." The last part was true, but the style wasn't the only thing Claude wanted to get a better look at. Ashe's cheeks turned a darker shade of red, and Claude supposed he'd caught the meaning. 

"I suppose that's alright. Do you have time tomorrow? I was thinking of practicing first thing in the morning if you wanted to join me then." 

Claude grinned, "Sounds like a plan. I'll meet you here first thing and show you how we do things in the Alliance. I won't go easy on you!" "

If that's the case, then I won't hold back either," Ashe slung his bow and his bag over his shoulder and started backing away towards the dining hall, "I'll see you in the morning!" 

Claude waved and watched as Ashe turned and walked away. He closed his eyes and sighed with relief. That had gone much better than he originally expected. 

"Oh my goddess, Claude, that was the cutest thing I've ever seen!" Hilda's voice rang out from behind the bushes to the side of the range. Her head popped up as she stood up from her hiding spot and brushed dirt from her uniform. "He's so adorable and he makes you all awkward it's so cute I'm dying." How she'd snuck back there, he couldn't figure out. 

Claude rolled his eyes and mimed stringing an arrow onto his bow, taking aim at her as she walked towards him, "Don't tease an armed man, or you might meet the business end of an arrow, you foul spy." 

She scoffed and pushed the bow away from her face, "Please, I could chop you in half before you had a chance to take that shot." Claude opened his mouth to reply, but she continued, ignoring him, 

"Come on, we are going to go make a plan so you don't mess this up. That was like watching a slow-moving train wreck, I can't live through that again." 

"You really didn't have to live through it the first time," Claude muttered as she pulled him away towards their dormitory rooms. He looked over his shoulder at the range, ignoring whatever Hilda was saying, and smiled. Tomorrow was going to be a good day, he could feel it.


	2. B Support Level Attained!

“Claude? Hello? Are you in here?” 

Claude took a step back from where he was standing in Tiberius' stall so he could better see over the large wyvern. The sun had just started to go down, so there was plenty of light still left for him to make out who was standing at the doorway of the stable.“Hey! I’m back here. Is that you, Ashe?”

“Yes s-, I mean, yes it’s me! Mind if I join you for a moment?”

Claude’s heart leapt to his throat, “Uh, no. Not at all. I would watch your step though, it’s a bit treacherous in here. Even more so than usual since they just had their dinner.” 

He watched as Ashe carefully picked his way through the stables. It really was a bit of a mess, as the wyverns didn’t exactly have the table manners of the horses and required a much heartier fodder than grass and the occasional carrot. Claude was suddenly very aware that he had been the one to feed them their supper and that he probably smelled just as pungent as the stables themselves. He was about to do a quick smell check when Ashe stopped in front of the opening of Tiberius’ stall. Ashe hesitated, clearly unsure how to proceed. Claude waved him inside with the brush he had been using to clean off the wyvern.

“He’s not going to hurt you. He’s actually kind of a big baby most of the time. Likes being brushed and scratched behind his spines and all that,” Claude explained as he returned to running the brush over TIberius’ scales, "He's a bit more fearsome than the horses, sure, but as long as you aren't actively attacking his rider, he could care less." Ashe still looked hesitant, but stepped inside the stall. He kept as much distance as possible between him and the wyvern, something Claude would have made fun of anyone else for. “But you obviously didn’t come all the way out here to listen to me talk about good ol’ Tiberius here, so what’s up?”

“I, uh, wanted to talk to you about joining your class.” Ashe was intently focused on watching the massive creature in front of him. Tiberius, true to what Claude had said, didn't seem to notice the new person standing in his stall as he was himself still focused on eating his dinner.

“Oh? Really?” Claude cleared his throat as he fought against the sudden fluttering in his stomach, “I know the Deer are great and basically the best at everything, but why the desire to move?” 

“The Lions are great, really, but I think I have a lot to learn from your class. The uh, people and the Professor alike. You’re all so different and yet you find a way to get along and make each other stronger,” Ashe shifted his gaze to stare at his feet, “And I… I want to get to know you better, too.”

Claude nearly dropped the brush at Ashe’s last sentence, but covered his surprise by forcing a small cough. “Get to know me better? I’m probably the least interesting person in the house, truth be told. I mean, have you met Raphael? Specimen.”

Ashe smiled, “I don’t think that’s true. I mean, I'm sure Raphael is great but… Since we've been hanging out more often, I've found that you aren’t like the other people in our classes and…" a beat passes and he looks up at Claude, "...and I find myself constantly wondering about you.” 

It would have been totally lame to punch the air in celebration, and if Claude was any less adept at hiding his feelings, he would have done exactly that. Instead, however, he stepped back from the wyvern and folded his arms across his chest. He locked eyes with Ashe, and saw his own masked nerves reflected in his eyes. “Truth is, I want to get to know you better too. There’s something behind those pretty green eyes of yours that just begs to be known. Something that keeps drawing my gaze back to you.”

Ashe’s face turned bright red, “Now… I-I don’t know about that but if you think so, then I guess the feeling is mutual?”

Claude grinned, “I suppose it is." He closed the space between them with a few paces, setting the brush on the side of the stable. "But, ah, you should talk to the professor and make sure that's fine by them. I'm sure there's red tape that has to be addressed and goddess knows what el-"

Suddenly, Claude felt a large force shove him from behind. He caught himself before he fell on top of Ashe and whirled around to scowl at the impatient wyvern. Tiberius chirped at him, unapologetic for his behavior. He outstretched his neck and nudged the brush Claude had just set down with his nose. 

“You are so spoiled and it’s entirely my fault,” Claude turned around to check on Ashe, who had been covering a smile with his hand, “You want to pet him? Like I said before, he won’t hurt you." 

Ashe shook his head and took a step backward, "Oh, I don't know I'm not very experienced with wyverns or anything like that, I really just came by to ask about that and since-" Claude stepped toward Ashe again and offered his hand. He paused, considered, wiped his hand on his pants to remove the excess grime, and offered it again.

"Do you trust me?" 

"Well, yes, I trust you, but you're not the one I'm worried about biting my head off." 

"I don't bite quite as hard as he does, that's true, but I promise he won't bother anyone I care about." 

Ashe laced his fingers between Claude's, took a deep breath, and let himself be pulled back into the stall. Tiberius, meal finished, watched intently as the two boys came closer to him. Claude reached out with his free hand to pat the smooth scales on the wyvern's side. "He's been my friend since I was a kid. We learned to fly together, if you'll believe it." As he was talking, Ashe brought his free hand up and placed it near Claude's. 

"He's… warm? I thought they were cold-blooded." The fear in Ashe's eyes was gone, instantly replaced by curiosity. 

"Wyverns are fascinating, and I'm not going to pretend to know everything about them. But what I do know is that they are often misunderstood because people are afraid of them. They aren't soft like pegasuses and don't like to eat sugar cubes like horses. If you take the time to get to know them, though, you'll not find a more loyal partner." Claude gently squeezed Ashe's hand. "I think he likes you."  
Tiberius was now staring intently at the new human that had entered his home. Ashe pulled his hand back when he noticed the bright yellow eyes staring at him and froze solid as the wyvern snakes his head closer to consider him. Claude held back a laugh as he watched Ashe get a once-over. Ashe's grip on his hand was crushing his fingers, but he hardly noticed. 

The wyvern huffed and licked a long stripe up Ashe's cheek then turned back to settle down for a nap. Ashe turned to glare daggers at Claude, who had completely failed his attempt to hide his laughter. "What? That means he likes you! Consider that your honorary acceptance into the Golden Deer house." 

Ashe rolled his eyes and wiped the slobber off his face with his sleeve as they left Tiberius to his nap and exited the stables. "You know, I'm not sure what else I expected."

"Don't worry, everyone isn't going to lick you as a way to say hi. Well, Lorenz might try, but he's easy enough to dodge." Their feet crunched through the freshly fallen leaves as they walked back toward the monastery, still hand-in-hand. 

"What are you doing tonight, Claude? Other than taking a bath to rid yourself of the smell, of course." 

Claude laughed out loud, "What? You mean you don't like the smell of a man who's been working in a stable all afternoon feeding large lizards dead things?"

"It's pretty bad, I won't lie to you." Ashe wrinkled his nose and chuckled, "But afterwards, ah, we should have dinner together. If you're not busy, that is." 

Claude scoffs, feigning offense, "You are a charmer, you know that? Shall we meet back here in an hour or so? Give me some time to make myself somewhat presentable?" 

Ashe nods,"Consider it a date."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> genuinely do not have an excuse for not posting this sooner lol but figured it was about time it went up!


End file.
